2olo 


r a-nrt  ^ 


Jubilee  Series 


Aeroplane  Service  ^ 


THEN  AND  NOW 

PERSIA 


1870  Then  and  Now— Persia  1920 

II Y MRS.  SAMIIFX  G.  WILSON. 


IN  1870  there  was  but  one  mission  in  Persia,  that 
at  Urumia.  This  mission,  begun  by  Dr,  Justin 
Perkins  in  1834  under  the  American  Board  as 
the  “Mission  to  the  Nestorians,”  was  trans- 
ferred in  1870  to  the  Presbyterian  Board  and  called 
the  “Mission  to  Persia.”  Dr.  Perkins,  the  patriarch 
of  the  mission,  had  closed  his  35  years  of  service  in 
1869. 

When  the  mission  began,  but  one  woman  of  the 
Nestorians  could  read,  and  only  a few  men.  The 
school  for  boys,  started  with  seven  boys  in  a cellar 
in  the  little  village  of  Seir,  has  developed  into  a 
theological  school  sending  out  preachers.  The  girls’ 
school,  begun  by  Miss  Fidelia  Fiske  with  two  pupils, 
has  educated  hundreds  of  women. 

The  Press,  established  by  Mr.  Breath  in  1839,  had 
in  1873  printed  110,000  volumes  and  published  the 
first  newspaper  in  Persia — the  Rays  of  Light. 
Village  churches  dotted  the  plain  of  Urumia  and 
every  winter  wonderful  revivals  showed  the  deeply 
religious  feeling  of  the  people. 

The  high-water  mark  of  this  mission  was  reached 
when,  in  1884-85,  it  celebrated  its  Jubilee,  a “feast  of 
tabernacles,”  when  1500  gathered  in  a large  tent  on 
the  college  grounds.  The  presence  of  800  Nestorian 
women  was  the  most  impressive  feature  of  the 
occasion.  The  Syrian  Evangelical  Church  then 
numbered  73  congregations  with  6000  adherents. 

In  1879  the  college  \,’as  begun  by  Dr.  John  H. 
Shedd  in  a large  garden  two  miles  from  the  city. 
Here  also  w'as  built  Westminster  Hospital,  where 


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for  27  years  Ur.  Cochran  performed  his  miracles 
of  healing.  The  girls’  school,  greatly  enlarged,  was 
named  Fiske  Seminary.  Besides  the  two  higher 
institutions  there  were  too  village  schools  and  four 
high  schools.  In  the  plain  of  Urumia,  the  Nestorian 
people  and  the  whole  environment  had  been  changed 
into  an  intelligent,  Christian  community,  and  work 
had  been  maintained  among  the  wild  mountain 
villages.  The  first  attempt  to  reach  the  Kurds  is 
shown  by  a small  grammar  of  their  written  language 
compiled  by  Rev.  S.  A.  Rhea. 

The  English  Church  Missionary  Society  began 
work  at  Ispahan  in  1869,  dividing  the  North  and 
South  of  Persia  with  the  Presbyterians.  The  Rus- 
sian Orthodox^Mission  in  1899  drew  many  adherents 
from  the  Nestorians  by  hopes  of  political  protection. 

NOW 

The  Mission  to  Persia  in  fifty  years  has  grown 
from  one  station,  established  for  one  nationality,  to 
two  Missions — the  East  and  West,  with  eight  sta- 
tions, working  among  all  nationalities,  but  placing 
an  ever  increasing  emphasis  on  Moslem  work,  as 
the  Moslems  include  about  nine-tenths  of  the  pop- 
ulation. 

The  West  Persia  Mission  has  two  stations, 
Urumia  and  Tabriz. 

URUMIA  has  suffered  more  from  the  ravages  of 
war  than  any  mission  station  in  the  world  outside  of 
Turkey.  At  the  first  invasion  of  Turks  and  Kurds 
thousands  of  Christians  fled  to  Russia,  while  15, 000 
found  refuge  in  the  mission  premises  for  five  months. 
When  the  Russian  army  returned,  "the  missionaries 
were  nearly  all  convalescing  from  typhoid  or  typhus, 
the  hospital  submerged  with  sick,  villages  in  ruins, 
the  country  in  anarchy.”  The  work  was  resumed 
in  all  departments  and  the  relief  work  continued. 





'■imimiiiiiiimiiiiiiinilliiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiimiiiiiimMiiiiiiiiilillMllitlllimiimimMiiiiiiiim'’ 


In  July,  1918,  the  second  invasion  of  Turks 
occurred.  Seventy  thousand  Syrians  fled  to  British 
protection,  and  Dr.  Shedd,  who  accompanied  them, 
fell  a victim  to  cholera.  The  remnant  who  reached 
Bakuba  (near  Bagdad)  are  now  receiving  help  from 
the  Relief  Commission,  and  await  repatriation  with 
protection  by  the  Christian  powers.  The  mission- 
aries were  deported  to  Tabriz  and  the  mission 
buildings  looted  and  destroyed. 

Thus  the  work  of  eighty-five  years  seems  wiped 
out,  yet  it  has  seen  its  glorious  fruition  in  the  mar- 
tyrs W'ho  have  laid  down  their  lives  for  the  faith, 
and  in  the  remnant  who  have  suffered  the  loss  of  all 
things  in  a like  loyalty.  Of  this  station,  four  mis- 
sionaries have  died,  truly  victims  of  the  war,  and 
many  have  lost  all  that  their  homes  contained. 
Those  deported  to  Tabriz  are  not  yet  able  to  return 
to  Urumia,  and  the  Kurds  have  a “hold  up”  on  the 
country. 

TABRIZ,  1873.  The  w'ork  in  Tabriz  begun  forty- 
seven  years  ago,  has  a good  equipment.  The  new 
hospital  w'here  12,000  patients  are  treated  in  a year, 
was  built  five  years  ago.  The  Memorial  School  for 
boys,  established  in  new  quarters  thirty  years  ago  by 
the  generosity  of  Mrs.  Thaw,  and  the  Girls’  School, 
lately  much  enlarged,  report  465  pupils.  In  the  la.st 
year  the  church  received  more  members  than  in  any 
of  the  past  ten  years,  mostly  from  the  schools.  One 
member  was  a convert  from  Islam,  a doctor  with  a 
large  practice.  These  figures  are  from  the  latest 
report  available,  which  also  mentions  meetings 
every  evening  for  several  months  kept  up  by  Miss 
Holliday  for  the  Armenians,  w'ho  seemed  more 
touched  than  ever  before.  Much  evangelistic  work 
has  been  done  by  touring  in  past  years,  when  travel 
was  feasible,  and  always  in  connection  with  the  city 
dispensaries. 


.iiiiimiiiimiiimiiiiiiimmiiiiiimiiiiiimiiiimmiiilllitllimiimimiimimiiiimiiiMiiMiiiiiiiiiimiiimiiiii. 

4 


■iimiimmiiiimiinmimiiimiimiimilimiiimimilllinmiiiiiiiiiMiiiimiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiimminmiiiiimii' 

In  Tabriz  is  the  grave  of  Mirza  Ibrahim,  the  first 
convert  from  Islam  to  die  for  Christ.  He  was 
strangled  in  prison  in  1893.  During  the  war  the 
city  was  twice  occupied  by  Turks.  At  the  second 
invasion  in  1918,  the  American  Consul  ordered  all 
the  missionaries  to  the  South  and  went  with  them. 
Dr.  Vanneman  and  Mr.  Jessup  remained  and  were 
held  as  prisoners  by  the  Turks  44  days.  The  hos- 
pital w'as  looted  and  other  mission  buildings  were 
much  injured  by  being  occupied  as  barracks.  The 
missionaries  have  now  returned.  Relief  work 
demands  much  time  and  strength.  In  the  general 
distress,  weekly  distribution  is  made  to  38,000  Mos- 
lems, and  industrial  work  has  been  organized  for 
cleaning  streets,  building  roads  and  a dam.  Great 
loss  has  come  to  the  out-stations.  The  leading 
Christian  men  have  been  tortured  and  killed,  and 
their  wives  and  daughters  taken  captive.  Dr.  S.  G. 
Wilson*  laid  down  his  life  in  the  relief  work  in  1916. 

The  East  Persia  Mission  has  five  stations — 
Teheran,  Hamadan,  Kasvin,  Resht  and  Meshed. 

TEHERAN,  1872.  This  station,  with  Hamadan, 
was  separated  from  Urumia  and  Tabriz  in  1883  as 
the  East  Persia  Mission,  because  the  long  journey  _ 
of  three  or  four  weeks  made  annual  meetings  diffi- 
cnlt.  The  school  for  boys  has  now  a large  new  plant 
and  Dr.  Jordan’s  plan  is  to  make  it  a college  with 
adequate  endowment.  The  first  class  to  be  gradu- 
ated in  the  twelve  years’  course  included  eight  Per- 
sians, three  Jews  and  two  Armenians,  and  there 
were  520  enrolled  from  these  three  nationalities. 

The  girls’  school,  Iran  Bethel,  numbers  about  300, 


•Rev.  Samuel  G.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  Teacher,  Minister,  Author, 
Administrator,  Humanitarian,  died  in  Tabriz,  .luly,  19K),  of 
typhoid  fever,  contracted  while  supervising  Armenian  relief 
in  the  Caucasus. — Editor. 


IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 


aii4  its  aliimnpe  association  of  70  has  a wide 
iiillucnce. 

The  Hospital  is  now  in  the  hands  of  a mission- 
ary’s son,  who  married  a missionary’s  daughter; 
the  trained  nurse  is  also  a missionary's  daughter,  so 
the  succession,  most  noticeahle  in  Unimia,  is  keeping 
up.  A nurses’  class  has  been  started  here.  The 
record  of  patients  in  one  year  at  the  dispensaries  is 
18,728,  and  333  in-patients.  Relief  work  has  also 
been  a prominent  feature  here,  and  Rev.  C.  A. 
Douglass  is  another  whose  life  was  sacrificed  in  this 
service.  Teheran  had  a Persian  scholar  in  Dr.  Pot- 
ter, who  did  much  in  providing  Christian  literature. 

KAZVIN,  1906.  This  station  is  a sub-station  of 
Teheran,  and  has  the  distinction  of  being  held  by 
one  couple.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Lawrence.  Both  are  doc- 
tors, and  Dr.  Lawrence  is  a minister  as  well.  In 
one  year  he  preached  200  times  and  follow-ed  each 
service  with  a medical  clinic,  filling  3,500  prescrip- 
tions. Mrs.  Lawrence  adds  to  her  medical  work  a 
school  and  meetings  for  women  and  boys. 

A new  kind  of  service  the  past  year  has  been  the 
“hostess  house,”  w’hich  Miss  Holliday  opened  during 
her  stay,  while  exiled  from  Tabriz.  Afternoon  tea 
and  gingerbread,  Sunday  services  and  a motherly 
woman’s  kind  sympathy,  were  much  appreciated  by 
the  British  soldiers. 

RESHT,  1906.  This  station  was  also  started  as  a 
sub-station  of  Teheran  by  one  couple,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Schuler,  and  for  some  years  had  only  school  work 
and  evangelistic  services.  The  medical  work  is  now 
a great  power,  as  is  shown,  for  example,  by  Dr. 
Frame’s  report  of  S,ooo  vaccinations  in  one  3'ear  for 
the  government,  and  the  item  of  $1,000  increase  in 
receipts.  The  tide  of  war  has  brought  a rush  of 
refugees  at  different  times,  so  that  relief  work  was 
necessary  here,  too. 


■nmitfnKUMinitiiHimimmnmimmiiimiiiiiiimiimiiiiiiiiimimiiimiimmimiiinimiinimmiiimdh. 

6 


HAMADAN,  1880.  Miss  Montgomery,  “the  great 
lady,”  as  she  W'as  called  in  Persian,  was  an  outstand- 
ing figure  in  this  station  for  thirty-five  years  as 
Principal  of  Faith  Hubbard  School  for  Girls.  This 
station  has  been  in  the  war-zone  and  occupied  by 
Russian  or  Turkish  armies.  Though  it  was  twice 
evacuated  and  twice  reoccupied  in  one  year,  the 
hoys’  school  was  not  closed  a single  day.  Its  usual 
enrollment  is  146.  Jewish  work  is  one  of  the  de- 
partments in  this  city  of  Esther  and  Mordecai. 

Two  memorial  hospitals  are  the  equipment  of  the 
splendid  medical  work,  and  in  these  last  years  have 
been  used  for  soldiers.  The  Armenians  had  to  flee 
before  the  Turkish  invasion,  hut  have  returned. 
The  British  soldiers  were  served  by  a canteen. 

Touring  has  been  impossible  under  war  conditions, 
hut  in  the  past  it  has  been  of  great  interest.  Hama- 
dan  has  a Persian  scholar  in  Dr.  Haw'kes,  who  is 
now  working  on  a revision  of  the  New  Testament. 

KERMANSHAH,  1910,  was  started  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  (Dr.)  Stead,  who  have  been  noted  for  their 
fearless  touring.  But  war  has  changed  conditions, 
as  this  station  has  been  the  scene  of  battles,  and 
soldiers — Turkish,  German,  Austrian,  Russian,  Eng- 
li.sh,  Australian — have  come  and  gone.  Dr.  Stead 
gave  her  services  in  the  Turkish  surgical  hospital. 
Meanwhile,  the  little  school  and  the  meetings  went 
on,  and  “all  patients  have  received  the  Gospel,  several 
becoming  candidates  for  baptism.” 

MESHED,  1911.  This  latest  venture  of  the  mis- 
sion is  of  thrilling  interest  when  we  consider  that 
Dr.  Essclstjn,  single-handed,  entered  this  stronghold 
of  Islam,  300  miles  from  any  other  mission  station, 
and  held  it  for  four  years  alone.  The  medical  work, 
hegnn  in  igi6,  reports  13,733  out-patients,  608  in- 
patients of  twelve  nationalities — from  Russia. 


iiiiimtiiimiitiiiinimmiiimiiiiiiimmiiiiimmdiinimiimiKimmmdmihiiiiMdiiniMiimmiitimidiiii. 





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Turkey,  Afghanistan,  Turkestan,  India,  Persia  and 
Arabia.  24,373  copies  of  Scriptures  have  been  sold. 
A great  loss  has  come  to  the  station  the  last  year 
in  the  death  of  Dr.  Esselstyn  from  typhus. 

War  conditions  have  given  larger  opportunities  to 
show  the  spirit  of  service  which  is  recognized  the 
world  over  by  the  Red  Cross  symbol,  and  which 
has  always  characterized  missionary  work.  The 
flag,  which  in  Urumia  sheltered  15,000  refugees  for 
five  months,  is  now  a precious  relic  of  the  war  at 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  156  Fifth  Avenue, 
New  York  City.  In  a remarkable  way,  the  position 
and  influence  of  the  missionary  has  been  shown,  as 
when  Mr.  Zoeckler  was  asked  to  act  as  Governor  in 
Doletabad,  and  Dr.  Shedd  held  his  cqjirt  as  a Judge 
in  Urumia. 

Many  lives  have  gone  into  the  building  of  God’s 
temple  in  Persia,  and  some  in  the  foundation  are 
now  unseen.  Many  kinds  of  workmen  have  labored. 
Scholarship,  business  ability,  medical  skill,  social, 
musical  and  linguistic  .gifts,  have  been  employed. 
The  worth  and  enduring  quality  of  this  temple  have 
been  revealed  in  the  fiery  trial  of  these  last  yeans, 
and  it  has  stood  the  test. 

November,  /p/p.  Price,  five  cents. 

Leaflets  for  Reference 

Historical  Sketch lo  War  Journal  of  a Mis- 

Question  Book 05  sionary  in  Persia 05 

Faith  in  the  Flag 04  The  Urumia  Exodus...  ,10 

A Persian  Pioneer 03 

THEN  AND  NOW  ON  THE  FOREIGN  FIELD 
{Each  country,  five  cents) 


Women's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church, 

156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 


